Goodbye to Roberta Flack, interpreter of success soul ‘killing me softly’

The world of R & B says goodbye to one of his brightest stars: Roberta Flack, the singer behind a series of successes including ‘Killing Me Softly with his song’, died at 88 years old. Flack is widely considered one of the greatest soul and R&B artists ever: born in 1937 in Black Mountain, in the North Carolina, from musician parents was introduced to religious and classic music very early.

He started playing the piano at nine years and 15 was admitted to Howard University to study music with a scholarship, one of the youngest students to be accepted in the history of the prestigious college considered the Harvard of the African American community. Graduated at 19, she aspired to become a lyrical singer, but accepted an assignment of teacher in North Carolina and at the same time performed in the nightclubs in the evening and on weekends, intertwining elements of classical music, blues, folk, motor and pop.

Her virtuosity made her get fixed evenings in Washington DC clubs and in 1968 at the Mr Henry’s Restaurant, a step that prompted her to renounce teaching definitively. His first success is from 1971: the folk ballad by Ewan Maccoll ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ remains in the first place for six weeks, winning a Grammy as a record of the year in 1973. ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song ‘He procured another Grammy in 1974 – First artist to win for two consecutive years, a company repeated later by U2 and by Billie Eilish. In half of the 1970s he began to collaborate with the legend of the soul Donny Hathaway as successes such as ‘Where is the love’ and ‘The closer I Get to you’.

In 1980, a year after the death of Hathaway, the successful success with ‘Back Together Again’ came, and then, with the new Duetto partner Peabo Bryson, the ballad ‘Tonight, the celebrated My Love’. He duetted with Michael Jackson, went on tour with Miles Davis and made a cover of Leonard Cohen and Laura Nyro. After its initial success, she was associated with the growth of Quiet Storm, a profound, mature and meditative branch of the R&B which later inspired artists of the caliber of Erykah Badu, D’Angelo and the Fugees (whose interpretation of Killing Me Softly would have rival with that of Flack).

More recently, in 2012, Flack had released a series of beatles cover in an album entitled ‘Let It Be Roberta’. Flack married once, in 1966, with the jazz musician Steve Novosel from whom he divorced in 1972. The son, the musician Bernard Wright survives.